View full sizeGilchrist Island is on the north side of the Alabama Point Bridge in this aerial photo taken May 17, 2012, in Orange Beach, Ala. The city has hired a contractor to appraise Gilchrist and Walker Islands in the first step to possibly purchase them. (Bill Starling/bstarling@al.com)

ORANGE BEACH, Alabama -- The city is looking at the possible purchase of two small islands near Perdido Pass for habitat restoration and recreational use.

The City Council voted unanimously tonight to move ahead with an $11,000 appraisal of Walker and Gilchrist Islands. According to the agreement, the city will pay Carl Sistrunk Company $5,500 for each appraisal.

“It all revolves around, ‘I don’t know how pretty the dress is until I see the price,’” Mayor Tony Kennon said in an interview before the council meeting. “That’s the sort of way I look at this. I think we’re trying to get the preliminary details and numbers on the table so that we can have an educated discussion. There’s so many variables: what the price is, what the value is, what value it is to the community, what does it mean to us. There’s just a lot to be discussed.”

The cost of the appraisals will be covered by a National Fish & Wildlife Foundation grant, which may also be used for the possible purchase of the islands, according to Phillip West, the city’s coastal resource manager.

It was 8 years ago when the city purchased Robinson Island for $4.3 million to protect its heron habitat and its use for marine science education.

Walker Island is located just east of Robinson and Gilchist is on the city-owned island’s west side in Cotton Bayou. The other island in that cluster is the state-owned Perdido Island, which is closest to the Alabama Point Bridge.

Kennon said a local businessman owns Gilchrist Island while a Louisiana man has property rights to Walker.

“Basically, it’s like the mayor said, ‘I can’t tell you if the dress is pretty or not until you tell me how much it costs,’” West said. “So the islands are kind of like that. Is it an attractive purchase for a grant or not? Let’s see what the appraisals are and then contact the owner and see if they’re at all interested in selling to the city. And hopefully they could get some tax benefits too.”

West said the city is constrained by law to pay fair market value for the island properties, which are not in the city’s limits.

“It’s sort of been on the radar screen for 10 years,” West said, “to try to acquire islands under public ownership and under a comprehensive management program to basically deal with sustainable use for the islands and for outlining habitat restoration priorities and needs.”

According to the agreement, Carl Sistrunk Company has 6 month to complete the appraisals. If an environmental site assessment or an endangered species study is needed, the city will be notified.